Aer Lingus warns of 2,500 job losses

Irish
airline Aer Lingus has warned staff that its survival is in doubt due to the
drop in transatlantic passengers.

Staff
were told that the airline needs to shed 2,500 jobs, which is over 40 per cent
of its workforce.

A
letter from Larry Stanley, group chief executive of Aer Lingus, stated that
losses are running at I£2m (£1.5m) per day and it is believed that it doesn’t
have the resources for redundancy costs, which have been estimated at I£125m.

The
Irish Government, which owns 95 per cent of the business, will seek European
Commission permission to guarantee a bail-out loan, the Financial Times reports
today.